J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Turin from the River Po 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 40 Recto:
Turin from the River Po 1819
D14221
Turner Bequest CLXXIV 39
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 186 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘39’ top right and ‘284’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXIV 39’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains part of a panoramic view of Turin from the River Po, continued on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 39 verso (D14220; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 38a). Turner’s viewpoint is a bridge on the site of the present-day Ponte Regina Margherita (built in the 1970s and replacing one dating from the late nineteenth century). The vista looks up-river (south) towards the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele I and the Monte dei Cappuccini on the eastern bank, but visible on this side of the composition is the western bank of the river and the city spread out beyond, including on the far right-hand side the towers of Palazzo Madama and nearby Palazzo Reale with the dome of the Cappella Sacra Sindone rising above it. The far distance is dominated by the majestic line of the Alps.
Turner made a number of sketches of Turin from the river. Similar views can be found on folios 38–39 (D14217–D14219; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 37–38), while for a vista looking in the opposite direction see folios 26 verso–27 (D14195–6; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 25a–26).

Nicola Moorby
December 2012

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Turin from the River Po 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-turin-from-the-river-po-r1142742, accessed 28 March 2024.